Definition of "give over"
give over
verb
third-person singular simple present gives over, present participle giving over, simple past gave over, past participle given over
(transitive, now rare) To give up, hand over, surrender (something).
Quotations
Diocletian, the emperor, was so much affected with it that he gave over his sceptre and turned gardener.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 2, member 4
As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over [the fight] to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess
Until 1961 the line was electrified only as far as Rickmansworth, where steam locomotives were attached or detached in place of electric ones. In the same year the stations north of Amersham were given over to British Rail.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 76
(transitive) To devote or resign to a particular purpose or activity; to yield completely.
Quotations
For, as indeed was very natural in such case, all government of the Poor by the Rich has long ago been given over to Supply-and-demand, Laissez-faire and such like, and universally declared to be ‘impossible’.
1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, book III (The Modern Worker)
(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, intransitive) To give up; abandon; stop.
Quotations
She was getting very heavy, and could run but slowly. Once, in the pursuit of a rabbit, which she ordinarily would have caught with ease, she gave over and lay down and rested.
1906 May–October, Jack London, White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906